The jury of the Isla de Lanzarote Awards and Distinguished Tourism Awards granted by the Cabildo de Lanzarote through Turismo Lanzarote unanimously agreed, in the session of the Board of Directors of this entity held this Friday, to award the Isla de Lanzarote 2019 Award to the airline easyJet. It also agreed to award the Distinguished Tourism 2019 awards to Club La Santa in the Company category; to Lanzarote International Marathon in the Event, Cultural and/or Sports Events category, and to Victoriano Elvira in the Personality category.
In the opinion of the jury, made up of representatives of public and private entities that make up the Lanzarote Foreign Promotion Society (SPEL), easyJet is deserving of the highest distinction and the greatest public recognition due to its "strong commitment to the Lanzarote destination, becoming in recent years a very important tourist agent for the island with the opening of new routes in a sustained manner, even in periods of uncertainty as the sector is currently experiencing at an international level".
The Tourism Promotion Councilor of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Ángel Vázquez (PP), has described easyJet as "one of the most solvent and dynamic airlines in Europe", and has highlighted that the opening that has taken place in recent times of new routes with Bordeaux, Venice, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam or Berlin "has meant a considerable improvement in connectivity with European tourist markets of great relevance for the island".
In this context, the Cabildo highlights that easyJet currently maintains connections between the César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport and those of London Gatwick, London Luton, London Southend, Manchester, Liverpool, Belfast, Bristol, Berlin Schönefeld, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Bordeaux, Milan Malpensa, Venice, Amsterdam and Basel. Specifically, the British airline increased this year, compared to 2018, from 15 to 19 direct flights with Lanzarote during the summer season and from 26 to 35 in the winter season.
Impact on the promotional aspect
For his part, the CEO of SPEL-Turismo Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, has highlighted "the impact that the fact that the Isla de Lanzarote 2019 award has gone to a company of the size of easyJet will have on the promotional aspect, which has an outstanding community of followers on social networks, with more than one million on Facebook, 470,000 on Twitter and 315,000 on Instagram, to which must be added the high number of retweets and shared publications that generate an even greater reach".
"This important partner of Turismo Lanzarote, with whom we maintain a close and fruitful collaboration, is currently one of the most important airlines in Europe as it has a leading presence in the top 100 European routes and is present in 50 of the largest airports on the continent, with more than 650 routes in 137 airports in 34 countries", he added.
Distinguished Tourism 2019
Regarding Club La Santa, to which the jury has agreed to award the Distinguished Tourism award in the Company category, the Cabildo points out that "it is considered one of the best sports hotels in Europe and is the cradle of one of the most important events in the world, the Ironman Lanzarote", in addition to carrying out "other relevant events" such as the Ironman 70.3, Lanzarote International Running Challenge or 4 Stage Mountain Bike. "Located in the municipality of Tinajo, it hosts numerous athletes throughout the year, many of them elite. Its clients are tourists who are very aware from their arrival of the island's condition as a Biosphere Reserve, for which they show great environmental respect", adds the institution.
Regarding Lanzarote International Marathon, which after 28 editions has been recognized in the Event, Cultural and/or Sports Events category, it is pointed out that "it has become a consolidated sporting event, attracting hundreds of participants from numerous countries". Co-organized by Sands Beach Active and the Cabildo de Lanzarote, with the collaboration of the Government of the Canary Islands and the City Councils of Teguise, Arrecife, San Bartolomé and Tías, "this event has placed Lanzarote on the international marathon map, contributing significantly to the tourist projection of Lanzarote linked to sports practice".
Finally, with respect to Victoriano Elvira Guillén, distinguished in the Personality category, it is highlighted that he is an "important promoter of the hotel sector and a great promoter of the island's tourism industry", who "started in the hotel industry from a very young age and has a long and recognized career in the sector". Linked in its beginnings to the emblematic Hotel Los Fariones, he has managed or directed leading establishments on the island such as the Barracuda, Las Vistas, Las Vegas or Bar Bagatela Restaurants.
Victoriano Elvira has been part of the most representative business organizations in the sector, being one of the first members of the Association of Restaurants, Bars and Cafeterias of Lanzarote, which he chaired between 2000 and 2011, a period in which he was also part of the General Assembly of the Federation of Tourist Entrepreneurs of Lanzarote (AETUR), an organization of which he is currently president since 2006. "As the highest representative of the sector, he has always promoted the training and qualification of hospitality workers", the Cabildo points out
Special mentions
The jury also agreed to award three special mentions to the book 'Bodegas El Grifo', the book 'The Volcano of Tourism, origins of the transformation of Lanzarote', by Juan Cruz Sepúlveda and the restaurateur José Luis Guillén Berriel.
The Island Councilor for Tourism Promotion, Ángel Vázquez, and the Turismo Lanzarote team, congratulate all the winners and remember that the Isla de Lanzarote and Distinguished Tourism 2019 awards will be presented at the end of next September during the institutional event with which the first Island institution will celebrate World Tourism Day.
